Enthusiastic residents turn out en masse for the art class taught by instructor Georgesse Gomez at The Huntington Senior Apartments in Morgan Hill, CA, one of the new communities EngAGE is now serving in Northern California.
A full house of 25 students!
Working on Lesson 1: The Line – Picasso
~ Nancy Goodhart, CAO
The California Arts Council builds public will and resources for the arts; fosters accessible arts initiatives that reflect contributions from all of California’s diverse populations; serves as a thought leader and champion for the arts; and provides relevant programs and services.
Avenue 50 Studio is an arts presentation organization grounded in Latina/o culture, visual arts, and the Northeast Los Angeles Community, that seeks to bridge cultures through artistic expression, using content-driven art to educate and to stimulate intercultural understanding.
Experience Talks will be on hiatus for the next few weeks, so this is the perfect time to listen to some of the shows in the Audio Archives on our stylish new website. You can search for shows by name of the guest or by date. Our most recent show, the special one-hour PDX All Ages Radio Hour recorded with an audience in Portland, OR, is on the Home Page. Don’t miss it!
Click here to visit us at ExperienceTalks.org!
Yes, we know that we’re heading into December, but we couldn’t resist posting an assortment of photos taken at some of the outstanding EngAGE community Halloween parties last month. Residents of all ages enjoyed the fun, games, and lots of tasty treats!
From ACE/121 in Glendale, CA
From Andalucia and La Coruña in Van Nuys, CA
From Cantabria/Asturias in Panorama City, CA
From Dorado in Buena Park, CA
From The Grove in Garden Grove, CA
From The Jasmine at Founder’s Village in Fountain Valley, CA
From Olivera in Pomona, CA
From The Piedmont in North Hollywood, CA
~ Marshall Ayers, Program Director ACE/121; Elizabeth Sampson, Regional Program Director, Andalucia, La Coruña, Cantabria/Asturias; Essence Parker, Program Director, Dorado; Lordes Torres, Program Director, The Grove, The Jasmine; Meloney Morse, Regional Program Director, Olivera; Lorraine Pope, Program Director, The Piedmont
Putting it Together
In late July, at Long Beach Senior Arts Colony, in Long Beach, CA, the EngAGE team met with executives from SCAN Health Plan to discuss a potential creative collaboration. SCAN, one of the largest non-profit health providers in Long Beach, was interested in sponsoring an art event. With November being the 40th anniversary of SCAN and the 5th anniversary of LBSAC, we decided to create a November to Remember.
“Legacy: A Celebration of Senior Artists” brought together ten invited professional artists to exhibit with ten of our resident artists. Artwork was submitted and selected while resident artists worked diligently to finish and refine their work, a process which was made even more challenging with the art studio going through repairs during the four weeks prior to the opening reception! During that time, the art gallery became a makeshift work space, and art supplies were transferred to the gallery.
One week prior to the opening, the invited professional artists delivered their four selected pieces and a second gallery was created inside the Yoga Studio where portable art grids were installed to hang their work. In the designated art gallery, the resident artists brought their work and, with the assistance of our art instructors, Ciana Lee and Colette Brown, and Pac Arts artist/curator Regina Argentine, we spent the day hanging the show in the two galleries and the adjoining lobby hallway.
On November 16th, the opening reception hosted over 150 guests who enjoyed the wonderful artwork, infectious dance music by The Blue Links band, and the delicious food catered by Lett-Uce Cater to You.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by 1st District Councilwomen Lena Gonzalez and SCAN CEO Chris Wing, who presented EngAGE with a generous grant of $20,000! Program Director and event producer, Helene Weinberg, sang a song with the band called, “I Love Living in Long Beach,” and then presented the fabulous Legacy Cake created by Rossmore Pastries.
The LEGACY exhibition continues through the end of November and we express a world of thanks to SCAN for sponsoring this legendary event!
~ Helene Weinberg, Program Director
Click on any photo below to enlarge it, and be sure to see our Flickr album with more photos provided by SCAN.
Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), #GivingTuesday is a counterpoint to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. After a weekend of consumer spending, #GivingTuesday provides a moment to pause, be grateful, support causes you care about, join together with friends and colleagues, and share your stories on social media. Started in 2012 by 92nd Street Y in New York, in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, #GivingTuesday has become a global phenomenon. Join with the rest of the world and donate cash or your time. You can even post a selfie of you holding a sign with the name of the charity you supported: EngAGE! Thank you. Learn more here.
EngAGE is delighted to welcome KATE HOUSTON to our team! Kate is based in Minnesota as the Regional Program Director for EngAGE Heartland, currently serving Good Samaritan Society – Waconia and Westview Acres in Waconia, and Riverview Senior Housing in Minneapolis.
Kate has worked in planning and program development for aging services, and grants management and program development for community arts programs. She has led several collaborative initiatives to improve community based care for older adults, including dementia care, caregiver support services, services to minority and ethnic elders, fostering lifetime communities and building the business acumen of the aging network. She is skilled at identifying and sharing best practices, designing programs to achieve outcomes and measuring impact, and nurturing relationships that foster collaboration among community partners. Kate has also made art in different forms throughout her life, including music and ceramics. She is pleased to bring her experience in arts and aging to foster opportunities for creative expression for older adults. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
